Twisted tales and music videos combine in V/H/S/Mixtape, this year’s solid entry in Shudder’s annual film series.
Another year, another V/H/S! For the sixth year in a row, Shudder tosses the yearly staple of short-form entertainment into their viewers’ trick-or-treat bags every October. I’m really enjoying the connected themes across the Shudder entries, aside from the mostly found-footage concepts. For more V/H/S series musings, see my write-up of last year’s Halloween. For V/H/S Mixtape, the theme is around the sounds of screams: auditory and music-based horrific happenings. As a cool touch that fits the style, a handful of music videos are mixed into the four stories and wrap around. It’s a good set, with each segment working decently, though all feel slightly incomplete and need that extra push, and that does build as it goes. Like Halloween, it’s a steady set, with no clear standout or low point; with its varied style, what connects would depend on the viewer. Unlike Halloween, that steadiness is a lower overall bar. Let’s break it down!
To get right in, GWAR hosts Mixtape! Hell yeah! Instead of a semi-connected, usually esoteric wrap-around story, Mixtape presents the over-the-top, fluid-flying metal band members as a series of skits (like one where he finds out his semen brings drawings to life), with a set of jokes and riffs before loading the tape into the VCR. It’s exactly as expected: these bits are gory, goofy, and fully lean into GWAR’s specific sophomoric stylizations. Love it. Think what if GWAR hosted an afternoon of MTV? (like the Weird Al takovers he used to do). These are so different in tone from the stories that it’s a big shock to jump in and out, but that’s how anthologies often work.
“Dance Dance Dance Dance” is the first story. Zoe Cooper wrote it for her third VHS segment, and Renee Zahn directs; best of all, it stars Barbara Crampton! Fuck yes. Always love to see my favorite scream queen. She’s a pushy executive at a TV production company rebooting a puppet show of the past, playing the cool meanness she does so well (but what doesn’t she do well). With a team, they come to scan the old physical puppets for digital. They will not have it. Twisted children’s media is big right now (Buddy, from last year’s Fun Size director Casper Kelly, was a box-office hit), and the puppets are from Jim Henson Creature Shop. Awesome. And it’s not just the core group bringing us bloody terror; it’s an astounding amount of practical puppetry that wows, with an extended, continuous take filled to the brim with moving creatures. Impressive.
Another Cabin is a three-minute animated music-video segment directed by and featuring music by Flying Lotus. A boy and his mean mother have a hellish night in a cabin as a monster attacks. It’s either stop motion or looks like it; I was reminded of the puppets from fellow anthology Tales from the Hood. Pretty tight, and I loved the animation.
David Moreau of MadS, Ils, and The Other wrote and directed Heartbeat. Deep in Eastern Europe, a pair of YouTube explorers are seeking out a strange structure they found in the woods. I watch a lot of these videos, and I’m frankly surprised it took nine entries to use this concept (though they did some urban exploring to make music in a previous go). The pair head in, which is awesome to see the Cold War remains, until they find their way into a chamber they should not be in. Instead of music, Heartbeat uses the lack of noise for its aural horror (say that five times fast), as a soundproof room removes all but their heartbeats. I dug the hell out of this one; it has a great build and performed well. Terrifying response as it reaches the end.
Ernest Dickerson, of Demon Knight, Bones and so much more (as a director and Spike Lee’s cinematographer), adapts H. P. Lovecraft’s The Music of Erich Zahn as The Music of Mr. SZE. He brings a Jean-Pierre Jeunet look to a boarding house full of weirdos and a new student renter. Phillip Howard (of course) is drawn to the music coming from the top floor, haunting music which seems to be impossible and has strange effects. Great monster design, mostly CG, sure, but still looks cool (yes, for those who know the story, we have a bigger ending)
A favorite artist, Tobias Forge aka Ghost, draws from, but doesn’t directly adapt, another classic horror writer: Edgar Allen Poe’s The Premature Burial. Like Another Cabin, it’s a silent film music video (the vocals aren’t Tobias, btw); it is more in the style of an old-school silent film. A woman chooses a man to bury and torture. Loved the look, the quickness, and the overall feel. 
The final segment is directed by Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and written by RZA & Matt Landsman. Death Tone is a gory delight, but a little slight. An audio engineer, guided by her dead father’s tape, searches for the right sound for her music. That sound? The screams and moans of death. Thus, she kills a wide selection of people in a variety of ways to get it, a Color Me Blood Red of music. For awesome, blood-soaked, practical kills with a nice sense of humor, Death Tone is pure enjoyment. Like the other shorts, I wish I’d done a little more with the concept; it comes off a bit empty. But I still liked it.
Overall, V/H/S/Mixtape is another solid entry in the Shudder anthology series. Each short is well done, although many could use a little more oomph. None are bad, and none are top V/H/S stories, but all are entertaining and worthy of this year’s selection. But I do wish it had more bite. The way sound is used to match the theme has variety, and it’s a good mix of new and established directors. Continue the Halloween tradition, just don’t expect a full candy bar this time!